The Cartographers’ Guild is a forum created by and for map makers and aficionados, a place where every aspect of cartography can be admired, examined, learned, and discussed. Our membership consists of professional designers and artists, hobbyists, and amateurs—all are welcome to join and participate in the quest for cartographic skill and knowledge.

Although we specialize in maps of fictional realms, as commonly used in both novels and games (both tabletop and role-playing), many Guild members are also proficient in historical and contemporary maps. Likewise, we specialize in computer-assisted cartography (such as with GIMP, Adobe apps, Campaign Cartographer, Dundjinni, etc.), although many members here also have interest in maps drafted by hand.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ. You will have to register before you can post or view full size images in the forums.

P3 Assault on Nightwyrn Fortress Encounter Maps

I am planning on drawing maps for all 32 of 'P3: Assault on Nightwyrm Fortress' encounters. This is a 4E D&D module published by Wizards of the Coast. I am making these for NGordian, who will be using the maps in MapTool. The maps will be made from scratch using the GIMP and resources downloaded from the intergoogleweb, particularly from this forum and the Dunjinni forums. All maps will be at a scale of 100 pixels per grid square and 72 PPI.

This is a WIP thread - so I am looking for advice on improving the maps.

I may need to do some work on the purple wyrm corpse (yes, that is what it is supposed to be) if it makes people laugh. It's supposed to be scary. In this map I have attempted to use complementary colour triads only (purple/green/yellow-orange) and I will use a complementary triad on map G2 to try to give the Gloomdeeps a coherent look. The scheme may be a bit lurid, however.

This map is unfinished.

EDIT: the stalactites are awful (they are the round green things). Does anyone have any advice for decent stalactites? Also I should probably put the grid up over the mushrooms, as these are not supposed to be difficult terrain.

Add a shadow to depict it, from the glowing lightsources in the room. I use shadows to depict structures, furniture and other map features all the time. A stalagtite could be more easily displayed with some shadow extending from it.

Just gonna poke in with a bit of pedantry - stalactites are those rocks which "grow" from sediment-infused water on the ceiling, while stalagmites are the ones formed from the same water dripping onto the floor below. An easy way to remember is that stalactite contains a "c" for "ceiling", and stalagmite contains a "g" for "ground".